Yao Ming to retire and a terrific, fascinating ride ends much too soon

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From the very start, before Yao Ming ever put on those weird, blue striped Rockets uniforms, told his first joke or sank his first jump shot, it was all about so much more than just basketball.

The basketball was for awhile wonderful. That has been forgotten, overshadowed by thoughts or what could have been. But it is incredibly short-sighted to consider Yao Ming’s career only in terms of basketball.

Even that first night when he was drafted and in his still cautious and halting English he said “Hello Houston, I’m come,” we quickly saw how this was a story that would far exceed what he could bring to the Rockets on the court.

The picture taken of Yao and his family that night showed Chinese revolution posters in the background. The Mandarin slogans on the posters were emotionally-charged attacks of the West. The Chronicle phones lit up, bringing an understanding of all Yao represents in a world changing rapidly.

It turned out that the photo was taken at a Beijing bureau of CNN and that the posters had become some form of kitsch pop art, like Peter Max or LeRoy Neiman posters here. But before Yao had completed his first 24 hours with the Rockets, we got a sense of the scrutiny that would come with everything he said, did or accomplished.

That whole first season was like that, with Yao using his sense of humor to deflect the pressure. He was asked incredibly stupid questions. He was asked to pose with radio talking heads standing on chairs. His friend and interpreter Colin Pine was asked “What does he eat?”

Yao considered dealing with all that part of his responsibilities. We could measure the collective egos of cities by the questions asked. In New York, it was “What do you think about New York?” In Indianapolis, it was “Do you know anything about Indianapolis.”

When Shaquille O’Neal mocked him with some cliched bad imitation of Chinese, Yao said he understood because Chinese was a difficult language to learn. When he was asked what the oddest thing he had seen, he pointed to my NBA credential, with the terribly outdated photo that seemed clipped from my high school yearbook and said, “This picture.” In Minnesota, I found out about a team meeting and asked what was discussed. He looked both ways, leaned way forward and in a whisper he answered as clearly as he could in those days, “I don’t know. I don’t speak English.”

He got through it all with more than humor. He had an unbelievable understanding of what he meant to people. He not only represented China and its sports interest, he was the face of its then-new outreach to the West. That was why he was chosen to carry his nation’s flag in the 2004 Olympics in Athens and most significantly in 2008 in Beijing.

When we went to the first China Games in Shanghai, we saw Beatlemania. Riding back with him from his old school, people threw themselves at the van. When we left the Reebok facility, they crowded so tight, the van shook, unable to make it through the crowds without injuring those that got closest to the windows to peek in. The night of the game, fans made their way through the walls and into the locker room showers. After the team got them out of there and got on the busses, Yao was rushed through a wall of security.

Yao of course knew what he meant to those fans, yet he carried those burdens with spectacular grace and dignity.

He was the rarest of athletes – a superstar that never lost his humility. No one ever enjoyed the success of teammates more. He was so loyal that I often told him if he were ever a GM, the team would be stocked with every Steve Francis, Moochie Norris and Mo Taylor that ever shared his locker room.

There will be a lot of that sort of talk in the coming days and weeks. Those qualities endure long after playing careers end, even when not cut short as Yao’s was.

Yao’s decision does not change the Rockets’ plans because they already ceased to plan on Yao coming back. He was a lottery ticket they were willing to purchase. Had Yao continued his rehabilitation and chosen to play again, the Rockets would have offered a contract and he likely would have returned. They could never again expect Yao to lead them.

The Rockets would have hoped he would make it all the way back and remain healthy through the season, but like other lottery tickets, they would not have expected anything.

Their sympathy, however, is not at this stage for their own loss of that potential. Yao had said in March and again in May that he hoped to try another comeback. The sadness is that he had come to realize there was too much to lose to risk injury again.

For awhile, however, he did touch greatness.

It already seems that the memory of how great a player he had become has been forgotten. He was at his peak, the best center in the world. Shaquille O’Neal was no longer Shaq, needing double team help against Yao as Yao always had against him. When Dwight Howard had begun dominating everyone else, Yao dominated him.

By the time the Rockets played the Trail Blazers in the only playoff series Yao won, he went 9 for 9 in the first half of Game 1, forcing the Blazers out of their usually strong defense and changing the series irrevocably.

By Game 3 of the Lakers series, he was hurt and his career had five games left. The Rockets have not reached the playoffs since.

It was, however, an incredible ride. Yao changed the NBA forever, setting the spark of interest in China on fire.

It was a heck of ride, over too soon.

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A whole lot more to come on Yao’s legacy as a player and icon tonight and tomorrow online. Here’s a sample from Chuck Hayes:

“He was an icon in this game. Michael Jackson was before my time. Elvis was before my time. But if I had to guess, it was like being around Yao Ming. He was big. Everyone wanted to see him. He graced us with his presence in the NBA. It was unbelievable. It was great.”

Or from Kyle Lowry:

“He was awesome, one of the best. He was a great teammate. Very funny. A gentleman. A great worker and one of the best competitors I’ve ever met.”

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Incredibly, those that are not locked out cannot comment because the NBA has not received anything official. Owner Leslie Alexander, CEO Tad Brown and general manager Daryl Morey cannot say a word about Yao, his career or his contributions. But it gets worse.

They cannot reach out to him. Yao does not really need to inform the NBA of his decision because he is a free agent and the league is locked out. But until he does, people in the organization that did not know of Yao’s decision before the lockout are not permitted to send Yao an email wishing him well or place a call to let him know they are thinking about him. These are friends and co-workers that shared years of experiences from here to Shanghai.

The NBA allowed an exception for Heat employees to attend Chris Bosh’s wedding. So far, the word is that Yao is a player and off limits.